Tablet box



Dec. 27, 1949 L. HERMANI TABLET BOX Filed Feb. 21. 1945 INVENTOR. Louis flermani.

Patented Dec. 27,1949

TABLET BOX Louis Hermani, Baltimore, Md., assignor to Continental Can Company, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application February 21, 1945, Serial No. 578,980

1 Claim. 1

The invention relates to new and useful improvements in a metal box for dispensing tablets.

An object of the invention is to provide a twopiece box die cut and shaped from metal blanks wherein a dispensing opening in the front wall of the body portion of the box is closed by the front wall of the cover and opened when the rear side of the cover is pressed upon for dispensing the tablet through the opening.

A further object of the invention is to provide a tablet box of the above type wherein the cover is secured to the body of the box by hinge pintles which may move up and down relative to the body of the box to permit the cover to be depressed at the rear side for raising the front wall so as to uncover the dispensing opening.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a tablet box of the above type wherein the side and rear walls of the body are so shaped that the cover top may normally rest on the upper edges of the body Wall when in closed position and fulcrum on the side walls when pressed upon at the rear thereof for the raising of the front portion and wherein stops are provided for limiting the opening movement of the cover.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view showing a tablet box embodying the improvements with the cover in closed position;

Figure 2 is a similar view but showing the cover moved to a position for dispensing tablets through an opening in the front wall of the body portion;

Figure 3 is a sectional view on the line 3-3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a sectional view on the line 4-4 of Figure 2;

Figure 5 is a view in perspective showing the body portion Of the box and also showing the cover portion of the box as lifted therefrom and positioned so that the interior thereof can be viewed.

The improved tablet box is a two-piece box made from sheet metal by die cutting and shaping. The completed body portion of the box includes a bottom I, side walls 2, 2, a front wall 3 and a rear wall 4. The cover includes a top 5, side walls 6, 6, a front wall 1 and a rear Wall 8. The cover is so dimensioned that the walls thereof extend down over and outside of the walls of the body of the box.

The side walls 2, 2 of the body of the box are offset inwardly'at 9, 9 to provide recesses which are substantially rectangular. The side Walls 6, 6 of the cover are provided with indents or pintles I0, In which are adapted to be sprung into the recesses 9, 9. Inasmuch as these pintles are in the side walls of the cover, the side walls will yield to permit these pintles to snap into the recesses. To facilitate this assembly of the cover and the body portion of the box, the side walls 6, 6 are cut away as indicated at H, H. These hinge pintles are smaller than the recesses 9, 9 so that the hinge pintle is free to move up and down and back and forth in the recess during the shifting of the cover to open position, while at the same time the pintles serve as a hinge connection between the cover and the body of the box.

The side walls 2, 2 of the body are cut away from points [2 to the rear wall which is likewise cut away and this provides a clearance so that the cover will fulcrum on the curved cut-away portion of the side walls of the body when pressed upon at the rear and this will cause a lifting of the front wall of the cover to expose a portion of the dispensing opening I3 formed in the front wall 3 of the body of the box.

In order to provide a means for limiting the opening movement of the cover so that the front wall will not move above the body walls when shifted for uncovering the dispensing opening, the side walls of the body portion are provided with elongated recesses in which detents formed in the cover flange engage. The recesses in the side walls 2 of the body are indicated at l4, l4. These recesses are elongated vertically of the body wall and the detents indicated at l5, l5, which are more or less pointed, will shift vertically in this recess and contact with the upper edge of the recess, thus limiting the upward movement of the front portion of the cover. The rear wall 8 of the cover is cut away to a limited extent as indicated at I6. This cutting away of the rear wall of the cover is to permit the rear portion of the cover to be depressed when pressed upon without the rear wall moving below the plane of the bottom of the body portion of the box.

The detents 15, I5 are only sumcient in length to engage in the recesses and by pressure applied to the cover, they can be sprung out of the recesses and the cover moved to full open position for loading the same with tablets. After this the cover is returned to closed position and the detents l5, l5 snap into the recesses ll. During this opening movement the cover turns on the pintles l0, Ill which engage the recesses 9, 9. As noted above, these recesses are large relative to the hing pintles It) so that the hinge permit this swinging of the cover relative to the body of the box. After the box has been loaded, the cover is moved to closed position and a detent I! will snap into a recess [8 and hold the cover in closed position with the dispensing opening fully closed as shown in Figure 1.

When it is desired to dispense a tablet from the box the rear side of the box is pressed upon and this will release the detent H from the recess in the cover wall and the cover will fulcrum on the upper edges of the side walls of the body part so that the rear part of the cover may be moved downward as shown in Figure 4 and this will cause the front portion of the cover to be raised. The detents 15 con tacting with the upper side of the recesses 14 will limit the upward movement of the front of the cover so that at no time is the front wall of the cover above the front walls of the body and therefore the only way a tablet can be removed from the box is through the opening It is obvious that minor changes in the details :of construction 'may be made "without 'departing from the spirit of the invention as set forth in the appended claim.

I claim:

A two-piece metalbox for tablets comprising a :body and a cover each having'rear, front and side walls with the cover walls engaging over the body walls, .said body walls being offset inwardlyadiacentthe rear wall to provide recesses, said cover'walls havinginwardly extending pintles adapted to :engage said recesses and serve as a hinge'conneotion for the cover, the recesses being dimensioned sons to permit the pintles to move up and down :and back and forth therein, the side walls of the 'body and the rear wall thereof being cut away at their upper sides to permit the cover top to rest on the side walls when closed and to fulcrum thereon at points in front of said pintles when pressed upon at the rear side so that a downward movement of the rear portion of the cover will move the front wall of the cover toward open position, said front wall'of the body intermediate the ends thereof having a dispensing opening normally closed by the front wall of the cover, said side walls of the body being offset inwardly adjacent the front wall to provide elongated recesses terminating within the side walls and with the upper end walls of the recesses disposed adjacent the upper edge of the side walls and said side walls of the coverhaving detents extending inwardly therefrom adapted to engage said last-named recesses for engaging the end walls of the recesses and limiting the opening movement of the cover.

LOUISI-IERMANI.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record .in the flleof this patent:

STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,026,463 Driess Dec. 31, 1935 2,197,481 .lNyden Apr 16, 194i) 2,219,487 yden Oct.29, 1940 2,347,724 May 2, .1944

FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 473,308 GreatBfitain Oct. 11, 1937 

